Professor Ian Plimer from the University of Newcastle said he was on a ministerial advisory council when he went to a meeting with Mr Macdonald and John Maitland in 2008.

He said he was appalled by the proposal and that university students had no place going down a mine.

'Sir Lunchalot'

Earlier in the week Mr Macdonald's former chief of staff, Jamie Gibson, said departmental staff opposed the licence and he was concerned Mr Macdonald signed off on it at the upmarket Catalina restaurant.

He said Mr Macdonald always chose the dining venues for meetings when they worked together.

When Mr Macdonald was in parliament he had the nickname 'Sir Lunchalot' and his dining habits have been mentioned often during the inquiry during evidence about meetings.

Corruption allegations against former New South Wales Labor ministers must be occupying most of Commissioner Ipp's time.

This inquiry follows Operation Jasper, which sat for several months and looked at the Mount Penny licence Mr Macdonald approved over land owned by Eddie Obeid and his family.

Mr Macdonald's lawyers have called on the commissioner to disqualify himself from Acacia and Jasper due to bias.

Mining magnate Travers Duncan has also lodged a court case to try to have the commissioner removed from Operation Jasper, accusing him of bias towards the New South Wales Government.

An inquiry late last year looked at allegations former Labor Minister Eric Roozendal was offered a discounted car as a bribe.

Mr Ipp will hand down his findings into the three inquiries in July.

Operation Acacia resumes Monday, and will still have an hour-long lunch break.

It's a fundamental human yearning to be a part of something bigger than one's self, and maybe that's what drove my mate Ash to die, far from home, in a bloody foreign war against Islamic State, writes C August Elliott.